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Minn. Fugitive Grandmother Faces Extradition Soon

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A Minnesota grandmother accused in a two-state murder spree will not fight extradition.

Lois Riess allegedly killed her husband last month in Blooming Prairie and then traveled to Fort Myers, Florida, where she's accused of killing Pamela Hutchinson.

Riess wore a maroon jail jumpsuit as she faced a Texas judge Monday. She was captured in South Padre Island late last week.

The judge is giving Florida and Minnesota 10 days to figure out who will try her first.

Surveillance video released over the weekend captured her final hours of freedom.

Riess walked into Dirty Al's Bar on Thursday on South Padre Island and was greeted by a server and manager George Higginbotham.

"He asked her, 'How many people?' and she said, 'No, no, I'm just looking at the menu.' You know and I'm looking at it and I go I know this is the lady," Higginbotham said.

Higginbotham immediately recognized Riess and called police but by the time they arrived Riess had turned around and walked out.

She didn't go far. Surveillance video from the Sea Ranch restaurant just down the street shows Riess walking in and sitting at the bar.

She ordered a glass of wine and dinner. She sat there for half an hour at times chatting with others at the bar.

Then undercover U.S. marshals walked in, surrounded her, grabbed her arms, handcuffed her and walked her right out.

The Sea Ranch's manager says no one there recognized her.

"She stood out to the bartender a little bit, but until she came away in handcuffs I guess nobody really thought too deeply into it," Sean Reagan said.

At her first court appearance Saturday Riess was still wearing the same yellow camisole and shorts she was arrested in.

A cousin of Pamela Hutchinson called George Higginbotham.

"She thanked me, she thanked me," Higginbotham said.

Higginbotham says it was Riess' silver hair that caught his attention. Hair she tossed as she sat in a Florida bar earlier this month as she chatted up Pamela Hutchinson just days before police say she killed her.

While details still have to be worked out it appears that Florida will try her first. Riess has already been charged with murder in Florida, a state that does have the death penalty. At this point in Minnesota she has been charged with felony theft for stealing $10,000 from her husband's bank account.

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